Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam Gets Bad Reviews: DC Film Is Repetitive and Unentertaining
Critics Are not Enthusiastic About “Black Adam” Despite the potential for “Black Adam” to shake things up in the DC Universe, it has been received negatively by reviewers compared to Warner Bros.’ other superheroes films from the past decade.
Among critics who have posted their opinions on the Dwayne Johnson film “Black Adam” as of this afternoon, 32% have given it a positive rating on the review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes.
If the trend continues, it will be DC’s lowest rating since 2017’s “Justice League,” which only garnered a 23% approval rating from critics and was so reviled by audiences that Warner Bros. commissioned a recut to be released in 2021 under the title “Zack Snyder’s Justice League.”
Despite a primarily good review from Variety’s chief film reviewer Peter Debruge, he did concede that “the film’s sole objective is to give Black Adam a properly big introduction on the idea that he will be matched against a more deserved enemy sooner or later.”
The genesis story has not piqued most people’s curiosity, but Johnson’s performance has been hailed as a strong point.
In Black Adam, the actor plays the title character for the first time, a role that, given his chiseled physique and box office dominance, seems like a natural fit.
Johnson received a mixed review from The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw, who said, “his huge bulk, planet-sized skull, and subtle flair for deadpan humor all make him a fantastic superhero.”
In an article for The Hollywood Reporter, critic John Defore remarked on the actor’s longstanding dedication to “Black Adam,” writing, “his passion project fits the character well, setting him up for adventures one hopes would be less predictable than this one.”
In his IGN review, Joshua Yehl praised Johnson for “making his Black Adam just as steely and menacing as in the comics.”
Also Read: Black Adam: Where and When to Watch the Movie?
He said the movie had “underdeveloped characters and an abundance of repetitive action scenes, to the point where its half-baked discourse on what it means to be a hero is lost in all the commotion.”
My spoiler-free review of #BlackAdam is now live on IGN!
I love the JSA comic run that clearly inspired this movie, but despite including the ingredients that made it great, the film just doesn't work.
Link: https://t.co/SonsZaoI1T
— Joshua Yehl (@JoshuaYehl) October 18, 2022
“Not even the delight of witnessing Johnson enter into a blockbuster template he appeared destined to dominate can make up for how generic, flavorless, and incomprehensible this is,” said Rolling Stone senior editor and film reviewer David Fear.
Alonso Duralde at The Wrap dubbed the film “one of the most visually perplexing of the major-studio superhero sagas, between CG that is assaultively ugly and rapid-fire cutting that saps the excitement right out of every battle sequence,” calling it “anti-entertaining.”
Also Read: UFC star made a sarcastic remark to Dwayne Johnson “The Rock I Like the New Red Shoes”
For his Indiewire review, David Ehrlich posed the question, “What happens when Hollywood’s most risk-averse movie star collides with Hollywood’s most risk-averse movie genre?” Ehrlich wrote a bad review of the film.
My review of #BlackAdam for @TheWrap || ‘Black Adam’ Review: Dwayne Johnson’s Anti-Hero Superhero Movie Is Anti-Entertaining https://t.co/53Am6m3iYe
— Alonso Duralde 🎄🏳️🌈🌹 (@ADuralde) October 18, 2022
How did he react to that? Just like you would expect it to be. The alternative is merely worse.
It “plays like a committee-made product designed to zhoosh up the stale DC Extended Universe with a major star and a load of new heroes to spin off into future movies,” according to ScreenCrush critic Matt Singer, who gave the film a “very average” rating.
After two hours of melancholy table setting, you have a clear roadmap for DC’s cinematic future, but considerably less desire to watch it. While advertising “Black Adam,” Johnson dropped hints about the antihero’s impending significant clashes.
Videos of the film’s post-credits scene have surfaced online, sparking further conversation on who Black Adam might eventually face the battle against.
In addition to his leading role, Johnson has expressed interest in acting as an “advisor” for DC Films.
After all the years of work on The Rock’s first superhero movie, #BlackAdam is a disappointment. https://t.co/0MRThtTtJK
— Matt Singer (@mattsinger) October 18, 2022
Under David Zaslav’s leadership as CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, significant changes have been made to the upcoming DC picture schedule.
Zaslav has claimed that the company is on the lookout for a leader to replace Kevin Feige as the architect of Marvel Studios’ comic book programming for the next decade.
